Traveling display case for shoes



April 14, 1953 H. c. MAYERS TRAVELING DISPLAY CASE FOR SHOES Filed Oct. 25, 1949 INVENTOR. ,n 6. )m BY Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to partitioned traveling cases generally, and relates particularly to cases in which sample shoes may be advantageously stored and displayed.

It is an object of my invention to provide a traveling case formed of foldable sections having compartments for receiving different sample shoes in combination with which there is provided removable trays in which other sample shoes are provided, which trays will fit in nested relation to the shoes retained in the compartments of the sections of the case.

Another object of my invention is to provide a series of insert trays for a traveling shoe case in which pockets are provided for receiving a number of sample shoes which can be quickly removed from the case so as to be advantageously displayed.

Still another object of my invention is to make the side walls of the compartments resilient and thereby protect both surface and structure of the article therein.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claim, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the outside of my improved case;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the improved case opened;

Figure 3 is a sectional view along line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the insert tray arranged alongside of the open case; and

Figure 5 is a view of a composite carrying case having three of the cases therein illustrated in Figure 1.

In traveling cases for sample shoes it has been customary to provide sectional cases with compartments for receiving each a sample shoe, and in order to economize space other sample shoes have been wrapped in paper and inserted in the compartments in a position reversed from the samples originally placed in the compartments so that the toe of a wrapped shoe will be received in the compartment in the space left by the heel of the sample shoe contained therein.

In my Patent No. 1,867,886, I disclosed an improved case which provides inserts having pockets for receiving sample shoes in which the inserts may be so arranged and positioned in the case that each compartment will have a shoe originally placed in it, and with the triangular space left in the compartment occupied by one of the shoes in the pocket of the insert.

Ordinarily a shoe salesman carries with him a number of samples of the left shoe of a pair, so that practically all the shoes will occupy the same amount of space. If the traveling case is subdivided into rectangular compartments each shoe will occupy a space in the compartment between the bottom and side wall and a diagonal line extended across from one corner to the other, leaving an empty triangular space which I fill in with the shoes carried in the pockets of the inserts or trays.

In the use of my improved display case, the sample shoes became somewhat shopworn during a selling tour, but such wearing was expected. Slight scuffs in the finish and crumpled leather are an expected result of carrying a case of shoes on trains, cars and other transportation vehicles.

The walls of the case, and the compartment walls were made of hard, unyielding materials. An attempt to line the compartments with soft cloth reducing scufiing, but not the crushed leather. A case was recently made with resilient composition material called leatherette in order to avoid lining a wood partition. The foldable sections themselves were made of soft leather.

After the new case was in use for a period of time, it was realized that the shoes remained in a new condition with no indication of deterioration. The reason appears to be in the fact that the compartments not only are soft enough to avoid marring the surface of the shoes, but that when the cases are dropped, the force of the shoes against the compartment walls will deform the walls, rather than the shoes being deformed. The wall rocks with the punch and reduces the shock.

The case is illustrated generally by the reference character It) and may be any suitable design, composed of open-sided sections H and I2, and provided with a hinge portion I3. Two slide fasteners I4 and [5 are provided for securing the sections in closed position as indicated in Figure 1.

Although both of the sections II and [2 may be provided with shoe-receiving compartments, the illustrated embodiment provides a compartment only in the section [2. The section I2 is provided with a series of compartment wall-s I6 which subdivide the section [2 into a plurality of compartments [1. As previously stated, the material forming the case [0 may be made of leather or leatherette, or similar resilient material, and the walls [6 are made of similar resilient material having slightly more body to thereby act as a skeleton for the case l0. Nevertheless, the walls [6 are resilient and will give when a suitable force is applied, and thereafter resume their normal form after the force is removed.

I have shown a case having six compartments, each compartment being of suficient size to receive a sample shoe in the triangular space extending across between the corners of the compartment.

Referring to Figure 4 of the drawing, I have shown an insert tray having metallic side bars l8, end bars I9, and with cross bars 20, spaced similarly as the compartment walls IB are spaced in the section l2 of the case. I prefer to cover the metal frame formed by the bars [8, 19 and 20 with cloth material formed with pockets 2| for receiving the sample shoes, whichare to be set in to occupy the unfilled triangular spaces in the display case compartment.

In placing sample shoes in the display case I 0, the case is opened asindicated in Figure 2, and each one of the compartments is filled with a shoe. The toe of the shoe is placed in one corner of the compartment and the top of the shoe in contact with the longitudinal wall of the compartment. lhe heel of the shoe then extends out along one end of the compartment. In other words, the shoe occupies a triangular space roughly defined by an imaginary line drawn diagonally across the compartment. The insert tray pockets 2] are then filled with shoes positioned to occupy the remaining triangular space in the compartment, and the tray placed into the case 10 with the shoes within the pockets 2| filling the unoccupied space of the compartment, but being separated from the shoes within the compartment by the cloth forming the pocket 2!.

When the salesman desires to display the samples in his case he merely opens the case and removes the insert trays, when all the shoes which he has in the case are displayed to good advantage without its being necessary to unwrap any shoes.

When constructed as-desoribed, my case may be handled in a rough manner and the shoe samples therein will remain in a new and attractive condition.

In Figure 5, I have illustrated a multiple unit carrying case having a jacket case 22 with three of the described cases 10 therein. In this manner, any number of cases 10 may be carried together to present a full line of samples.

Although my invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

A resilient and flexible sample shoe display case comprising, a closable container of flexible material consisting of a flexible first wall, flexible side wall portions carried by said first wall, said first wall and said side wall portions defining a closable receptacle, a lid member closable upon said receptacle, means to secure said lid to said side walls in closed relationship, a plurality of flexible partitions extending in angular relationshipwith respect to one another and crossing to define smaller discrete compartmentswithin said receptacle, each said flexible partitions extending from side wall to side wall and fixed in position within said receptacle, an insert tray rack having a rigid frame consisting of an outer loop substantially as large as the inner circumference of the side wall portions to fit closely within the case, and a plurality of rigid cross frame members extending in substantiallythe same pattern as said partitions to thereby overlay the partitions, 9. flexible material covering secured to said tray rack frame and hanging loosely between the various frame portions thereby providing pockets to hang down into the compartments defined by the partitions.

HORACE C. MAYERS.

References Cited in .the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

